When East Bay rapper Paris' new album is released in April, it's bound to create some noise.
The cover of "Sonic Jihad" depicts a commercial jetliner headed for the White House, evoking the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Paris, whose 1990 hit album and single, "The Devil Made Me Do It," helped bring the Bay Area hip-hop scene to national prominence, admits the cover image is incendiary. He means it to be. The point, he says, is to provoke debate over the Bush administration's actions before and after the events of Sept. 11. "Upset by the cover?" he asks on his Web site. "You should be, but for the right reasons."
"This image is not intended to inflict further pain on the victims of those tragedies," says the 35-year-old rapper, born Oscar Jackson Jr. "It's intended to raise questions: What would you do if suddenly you discovered that the brutality that's implied in that image is not even on the same register as the real-life viciousness that the U.S. government inflicts on people in the name of democracy and freedom? What's more vicious, bombing people around the world or this album cover?"
Alice Hoglan of Los Gatos, whose son, Mark Bingham, died in the crash of San Francisco-bound Flight 93, doesn't see the connection and calls the album cover "despicable."
"I regret that Paris is using this graphic image to create publicity for his political views," she says. "I hate to see the horror of Sept. 11 exploited in this way."
"Sonic Jihad" is the latest salvo in the career of an artist known for his fiercely political rhymes. Paris parted ways with Tommy Boy Records in 1992 when it refused to distribute his album "Sleeping With the Enemy" because it included the scathing anti-establishment track "Bush Killa." "Sonic Jihad" will be released on Paris' own label, Guerrilla Funk Recordings, which he founded in 1995.
On the album's first single, "What Would You Do," Paris accuses the Bush administration of using the war on terrorism as an opportunity to silence dissent: "It's all a part of playin' God so ya think we need 'em / While bin Ashcroft take away ya rights to freedom," he raps. "Bear witness to the sickness of these dictators / Hope you understand the time, brother, cause it's major."
Besides musical projects such as "Sonic Jihad," Paris' Web site, www.guerrillafunk.com, includes a news section and essays on everything from education to black-on-black violence. He says his goal is to fill the information gap left by mainstream media, particularly concerning war with Iraq -- and if a controversial album cover gets people to listen, so be it.
"We hear nonstop terror warnings, using fear to whip us into a patriotic fervor to back the Bush administration," he says. "It's necessary right now to question everything the administration does. They want blanket approval for their actions. To me, that's unpatriotic. That has the markings of dictatorship. It's more patriotic to question."
Paris knows the album's cover will be seen by many as exploitive: "I know some will dismiss it as, 'Oh, he's trying to capitalize on tragedy,' or 'He's just trying to get attention.' But go to my Web site, and take the time to read the facts. You might not be comfortable with what you read, but it's not supposed to make you comfortable."
At least one peace activist thinks the CD cover will make people too uncomfortable for it to be effective. Joan Blades -- a co-founder of MoveOn. org, which helped coordinate this week's Virtual March on Washington -- warns, "Images are very powerful. For many people, they're much more powerful than words. And this image presses the fear button. Fear is not the best way to promote dialogue."
Paris isn't the first Bay Area hip-hop artist to cause an uproar over his choice of album art. In 2001, the Coup pulled the cover for its CD "Party Music" days after the Sept. 11 attacks. The original image showed Coup members Boots Riley and Pam the Funkstress posed in front of a flaming World Trade Center. The final version featured a less provocative image of a martini glass lit like a Molotov cocktail.
The cover of "Sonic Jihad" depicts a commercial jetliner headed for the White House, evoking the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Paris, whose 1990 hit album and single, "The Devil Made Me Do It," helped bring the Bay Area hip-hop scene to national prominence, admits the cover image is incendiary. He means it to be. The point, he says, is to provoke debate over the Bush administration's actions before and after the events of Sept. 11. "Upset by the cover?" he asks on his Web site. "You should be, but for the right reasons."
"This image is not intended to inflict further pain on the victims of those tragedies," says the 35-year-old rapper, born Oscar Jackson Jr. "It's intended to raise questions: What would you do if suddenly you discovered that the brutality that's implied in that image is not even on the same register as the real-life viciousness that the U.S. government inflicts on people in the name of democracy and freedom? What's more vicious, bombing people around the world or this album cover?"
Alice Hoglan of Los Gatos, whose son, Mark Bingham, died in the crash of San Francisco-bound Flight 93, doesn't see the connection and calls the album cover "despicable."
"I regret that Paris is using this graphic image to create publicity for his political views," she says. "I hate to see the horror of Sept. 11 exploited in this way."
"Sonic Jihad" is the latest salvo in the career of an artist known for his fiercely political rhymes. Paris parted ways with Tommy Boy Records in 1992 when it refused to distribute his album "Sleeping With the Enemy" because it included the scathing anti-establishment track "Bush Killa." "Sonic Jihad" will be released on Paris' own label, Guerrilla Funk Recordings, which he founded in 1995.
On the album's first single, "What Would You Do," Paris accuses the Bush administration of using the war on terrorism as an opportunity to silence dissent: "It's all a part of playin' God so ya think we need 'em / While bin Ashcroft take away ya rights to freedom," he raps. "Bear witness to the sickness of these dictators / Hope you understand the time, brother, cause it's major."
Besides musical projects such as "Sonic Jihad," Paris' Web site, www.guerrillafunk.com, includes a news section and essays on everything from education to black-on-black violence. He says his goal is to fill the information gap left by mainstream media, particularly concerning war with Iraq -- and if a controversial album cover gets people to listen, so be it.
"We hear nonstop terror warnings, using fear to whip us into a patriotic fervor to back the Bush administration," he says. "It's necessary right now to question everything the administration does. They want blanket approval for their actions. To me, that's unpatriotic. That has the markings of dictatorship. It's more patriotic to question."
Paris knows the album's cover will be seen by many as exploitive: "I know some will dismiss it as, 'Oh, he's trying to capitalize on tragedy,' or 'He's just trying to get attention.' But go to my Web site, and take the time to read the facts. You might not be comfortable with what you read, but it's not supposed to make you comfortable."
At least one peace activist thinks the CD cover will make people too uncomfortable for it to be effective. Joan Blades -- a co-founder of MoveOn. org, which helped coordinate this week's Virtual March on Washington -- warns, "Images are very powerful. For many people, they're much more powerful than words. And this image presses the fear button. Fear is not the best way to promote dialogue."
Paris isn't the first Bay Area hip-hop artist to cause an uproar over his choice of album art. In 2001, the Coup pulled the cover for its CD "Party Music" days after the Sept. 11 attacks. The original image showed Coup members Boots Riley and Pam the Funkstress posed in front of a flaming World Trade Center. The final version featured a less provocative image of a martini glass lit like a Molotov cocktail.
